A Swell Guy
@cptnjackmd
A WWII field surgeon speaks from the dusty pages of the journal he was forbidden from keeping: Battles, beaches, bars and boredom in North Africa and beyond: 1943-1944 In 2019 I found two leather bound journals in my mother's basement. The volumes contained the daily musings of my grandfather as he marched across North Africa and then Italy as a surgeon in the Army's 1st Armored Division. He was present as US soldiers first engaged with German forces. He wrote of strafings, bombings, treating the wounded, marching past battlefields strewn with the corpses of machines and men. But mostly he wrote about swimming, sunbathing, his wife, jealousy, his family, local expats, fellow communists, daily sick call, gambling, drinking, dining, pickup sports, and nightly film screenings. Over his 88 years he was known by a lot of names: Jack, Jacob, Dad, Dr. Levine, Scrunchy, Poppy. But for two life-altering years he was: Captain Jack Levine MD 1st Armored Division 47th Surgical Regiment And I can attest. He was a swell guy.